Tricycle Blog

The musical investigations of a law student bored on spring break
Roger Maldonado

Editor’s note: This playful review of all things Buddhist Rock came our way from a friend of the magazine, a recent graduate of Yale Law school, who emailed us this list in March purely for fun—and also because he was on spring break, and he was bored. Though he is not a Buddhist, his enthusiasm for music—and musical trivia—borders on religiosity. With enjoyment, we present: “A (Incomplete) Guide to (Sort of) Buddhist Rock.”
More »

Buddhist scholar David McMahan and Tricycle contributing editor Linda Heuman are guests on the newest episode of Interfaith Voices, the nation’s leading public radio show on religion and spirituality, to speak about the longstanding dialogue between Buddhism and science. An alliance between Buddhism and science began “sometime in the late 19th century,” McMahan tells host Maureen Fiedler,
More »

The wealth of the world is mist on the mountain pass.My closest friends, but guests on market day.Uncertain joys and sorrows are last night’s dream.I think and think; they have no essence.
Led by the unknown envoy of Yama [god of death],My friend wanders the long and narrow path to the next life.Sublime refuge, three divine foundations,Please be his compassionate guide.
More »

These days those who aren’t born into it seem to arrive at the dharma from many different directions. Some are forced to enter dharma after an overwhelming experience shatters their world and leaves them no other choice. Others arrive more gently, perhaps through disillusionment with the shallowness of contemporary culture. Encountering the dharma, they find meaning and purpose.
Others come because they are wounded in some way, whether by love or hatred or just by the bitter dance of loneliness. In dharma they discover a salve for their ills.
More »

In his recent Huffington Post article “How the Nones Are Coming of Age,” Tricycle contributing editor Clark Strand notes a growing disenchantment with the spirituality craze that emerged as Americans turned away from religion in the decades following World War II. “The trend has peaked and people are looking for something more,” Strand recounts a friend telling him. “They don't want to go back to the religion of their parents or grandparents, but they've wised up to the fact that they need something real to replace it, whether you call it a religion or not.”
More »

After breaking his hand, a physician gets a dose of present moment medicine
Robert J. Abramson

I broke my hand last year. I knew immediately it was broken by the exquisite, searing pain. I have experienced my fair share of pain, from kidney stones in rural India to joint pains from 40-plus years of long distance running, but never a fracture. So when the edge of my hand hit the corner of the wall as I catapulted forward off the last step down the hallway in my house, I knew by the rapid elimination of my many previous causes of pain that this was fracture pain. An integral, internal bedrock structure had snapped like so many trees after a strong storm.
More »

BANGKOK (RNS) To many Americans, Buddhism is about attaining enlightenment, maybe even nirvana, through such peaceful methods as meditation and yoga.
But in some parts of Asia, a more assertive, strident, and militant Buddhism is emerging. In three countries where Buddhism is the majority faith, a form of religious nationalism has taken hold:
More »

Welcome to the Let’s Dance: Discovering the Path of Meditation online archive page!
If you missed a portion of the course, don’t fret. We have all the course content here, updated on a weekly basis.
Looking for the online discussion page? Click here.
More »

Welcome to the Let’s Dance: Discovering the Path of Meditation online discussion page!
This space is reserved as a place to share your thoughts and experiences throughout the meditation course. If you have a question, leave it here—your meditation teachers from Juniper will be dropping by throughout the course to help.
More »

I’m no marketing executive, but I’ve watched enough TV to understand the basic syllogism underlying all endorsements: celebrity X is well-liked; celebrity X will appear with a product; therefore the product will be well-liked. Variations arise, of course, depending on what the advertisers are trying to sell. They get Megan Fox to endorse jeans because she’s sexy. They get George Clooney to endorse tequila because he’s classy. And, as it turns out, they get His Holiness the Dalai Lama to endorse market capitalism because he’s virtuous.
More »

A challenging teaching on letting go of attachment to the body
Phra Ajaan Suwat Suvaco

When meditators' minds have reached genuine happiness in the dhamma through their mindfulness and discernment, clearly seeing the four noble truths, none of them—not one—will revert to looking for happiness in the world or in material things. That's because happiness in the dhamma is a lasting happiness: solid, refined, and genuinely pure. If you compare worldly happiness with the happiness of the dhamma, you'll see that there's not even the least real happiness to it. It offers nothing but stress, nothing but drawbacks. So why do we think it's happiness? Because we're burning with pain. We look to worldly happiness and pleasures to relieve the pain, which then goes away for a while but then comes back again.
More »

“Friendship is a binding glue in all mature, loving relationships.”
In this exclusive conversation, Jungian analyst and mindfulness teacher Polly Young-Eisendrath speaks with Buddhist author Mark Matousek on the importance of friendship for our psychological and spiritual growth. “People don’t give friendship the importance it deserves, especially when they think about how it teaches us to love," says Matousek. "If lovers are depicted face-to-face, deeply in love, then friends should be depicted side-by-side, ready to take on the world together.”
More »

Peter Matthiessen—prolific author, naturalist, activist, and Zen priest—passed away at his home in Sagaponack, NY, on Saturday, April 5. He was 86.
His death—three days prior to the release of his newest novel, In Paradise—marks the end of his struggle with leukemia, for which he was undergoing chemotherapy.
More »